Fort Smith, Greenwood school voting districts spark confusion

By John LovettTimes Recordjlovett@swtimes.com

Sunday

Jun 10, 2018 at 12:15 AMJun 10, 2018 at 12:17 AM

Jim Bolin of Fort Smith thought he would get a chance to vote for the Fort Smith School District millage increase last month, but something odd to him popped up at the end of his ballot: The Greenwood School District.

As it turns out, the database used by the Sebastian County Clerk’s Office to create the ballots is different from ARCountyData.com, the one used by the city of Fort Smith, the Fort Smith School District, the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, contractors, realtors and just about anyone else who is interested in what school district their house sits in.

Most of the area in Chaffee Crossing that is thought to be in the Fort Smith School District is actually in the Greenwood School District, according to the Sebastian County Voting Precinct Map at www.wagis.org, the site used by the county clerk’s office.

There are 1,904 planned residential units, including built, under construction or planned on property sold at Chaffee Crossing. More than half are already built.

The voting precinct information is provided by the Arkansas Department of Education to the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District GIS Department. The County Clerk’s office then uses that information for the ballots, according to Darlene Neumeier, office manager for the Sebastian County Clerk’s Office.

Comparing addresses with those at ARCountyData.com, the Sebastian County Assessor's website, shows exact opposites in school districts for areas such as Reata Street, Harrington Court, Avalon Way, Forest Canyon Drive, Naples Way, Cisterna Way, Mylea Circle, even areas of South Zero Street. Most of the land east of Ben Geren Park and south of South Zero Street, aka Arkansas 255, is actually in the Greenwood School District, according to the database used by the Sebastian County Clerk’s office.

The Sebastian County Clerk and the Sebastian County Assessor have two conflicting sets of data. But the clerk creates the ballots and draws up voter registration.

The 71 acres that was reserved for the Fort Smith School District by the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority is also partially in the Greenwood School District, according to the Voting Precinct Map. The Arkansas Colleges of Health Education just south of that land is squarely in the Greenwood School District.

Stonebrook at Chaffee Crossing, for example, promotes its development in the northwest quadrant of the former military post as being in Fort Smith School District. But according to the county clerk’s office it is actually in the Greenwood School District.

Bolin thought his address in Highland Crossing was in the Fort Smith School District, but not according to the database the county clerk uses.

Sebastian County Judge David Hudson said he has “been aware there could be some confusion” over what subdivisions at Chaffee Crossing are in the Greenwood School District.

“It’s possible we have some uncoordinated databases,” Hudson said, quickly giving a plan of attack to address the issue.

He said the discrepancy of voting districts between the city and county has “lit a fire under” him to resolve.

“Technology is wonderful, but technology also presents issues when you have different databases maintained,” Hudson added.

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, who negotiated the school district boundary in 2003 as the executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, said the Greenwood School District had requested the areas of Chaffee Crossing that would be set aside for industrial use and the Fort Smith School District requested areas that would be used for residential.

Those boundaries, according to the Redevelopment Authority, were revised in 2006 for a land use plan and then drawn up formally in a school board map in 2009 by Mickle Wagner Coleman Engineers, according to Lorie Robertson, marketing director for the Redevelopment Authority. That land use map has all of the areas noted above — Stonebrook, Cistnera Villa, Reata — in the Fort Smith School District. The Stoneshire subdivision at Chaffee Crossing, about a mile from Bolin’s house, advertises as being in the Greenwood School District.

Bolin said he would have voted for the millage increase.

“The turnout of the millage increase is not the point,” Bolin said. “I didn’t get to vote on it.”

The Fort Smith millage increase, a jump from 36.5 mills to 42.058 mills, passed on May 22 by a margin of about 62 percent to 38 percent. It was the first city wide vote to be taken following the construction of many homes in Chaffee Crossing. And it was the first time since 1987 that Fort Smith Public Schools has had a millage increase. The district is expected to put the money toward more than $120 million worth of projects.

The Greenwood School District has a millage of 40.6.

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